We conducted a needs assessment survey of 73 freshmen living in Woodland Hall at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to identify their mental health needs. The survey found that in the past week, participants felt stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, and lonely, primarily due to school, relationships, and financial issues. They reported relieving stress through sleeping, working out, and talking with friends or trusted individuals. This needs assessment was the first step in planning and implementing a senior health education project to address the mental health of students in the dorm.

1. Addie Benning
Responsibility 1
For Area I: Assess needs, Assets and Capacity for Health Education, I planned and
implanted a Senior Assignment with three other Senior Health Educators. We created surveys
that were focused on our target population. We found our target population by using existing data
that helped us see who our program would effect the most. Once we had our target population
and found all the existing data we needed. We then created surveys to hand out, using all our data
we have collected, in order to complete our needs assessment for our program. The needs
assessment was our first step in programming and implementing our program.
Example from Senior Project:
We conducted our needs assessment on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus in
Woodland Hall. We reserved a table in the lobby of Woodland Hall and asked seventy-three of
the freshmen who walked into the building to participate in our survey. The survey consisted of
five multiple choice questions (see Appendix A for needs assessment). At the conclusion of the
survey, we found that in the past week the participants felt stressed, overwhelmed, anxious, and
lonely. The main factors that contributed to these problems were school, relationships, and
financial situations. They expressed that they relieved stress by sleeping, recreational activities
such as working out and talking to a friend or trusted person.